


The Same, but Different

by CosmicCthulhu



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Draco Malfoy in the Muggle World, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, POV Draco Malfoy, POV Hermione Granger, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Unspeakable Draco Malfoy, Unspeakable Hermione Granger, technically a muggle au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-14 13:07:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28795884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CosmicCthulhu/pseuds/CosmicCthulhu
Summary: There’s been an accident with their current assigned and mysterious object, and now Unspeakable Granger must figure out a solution while dealing with a strange, and kind Malfoy, instead of her usual snarky one.Excerpt:“I have several questions.” Malfoy spoke, after watching the healer excuse himself and leave the room.“I’m sure you have.” Hermione sighed, resisting the urge of bashing her head against the wall and screaming in frustration. “I’ll try to answer the most pressing one, for now.”“Why did he call you Miss Granger?”“What? What do you mean?”“We’re married. You’ve been a Malfoy for three, almost four years now.”“This day just gets weirder and weirder.” She mumbled under her breath, staring at the confused man.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Comments: 25
Kudos: 284





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I appreciate all comments and kudos I get!
> 
> English is not my first language, and this work is unbeta'd so all errors are my own.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter franchise.

“You’re doing it wrong.” His irritating voice broke their tentative silence. Hermione didn’t even need to turn around to know that Malfoy was sporting his usual taunting smirk.

“I’m not.” She replied simply, conjuring all her patience and level-headedness to not snap at her partner. “You did the calculations yourself. If there’s anything wrong, it’s your fault.”

“My calculations are correct, but you’re not following them as you should.” 

She breathed in deeply through her nose and slowly let her breath out through her mouth, still fighting her urges of just smacking the man in the head and telling him to shut up and let her work without his useless inputs. 

If she lost her composure, something awful was bound to happen, considering she was messing with a highly unstable and very enigmatic giant metal box that had more than one modified time turner crammed into the inner structure, and had several imprintings of dark magic seeping from the sealed interior. She needed to work with utmost caution.

She heard some more unintelligible grumblings coming from the wizard behind her which made her skin crawl with impatience. 

“Would you like to try it, then?” Hermione snapped, as she lowered her wand and took a step back from the box. “Clearly, you think I’m incapable of doing my job.”

“Don’t be dramatic, Granger.” Malfoy rolled his eyes, but he raised his wand all the same, approaching the box. “I’m just pointing out some mistakes because I care about you and I don’t want your face to melt when we open this death trap.”

“How considerate.” She scoffed, crossing her arms, as the wizard knelt before the box, diagnosing and working on it exactly the same way as she had, which irked her even more.

“You know I am.” He smirked, and Hermione had to avert her gaze so that he would catch her flustered. For a minute, she watched the man work in silence, until she grew impatient. 

“You’re doing it wrong.” She mocked, with a poor attempt of imitating his voice, and he merely hummed in acknowledgement, but didn’t respond, clearly concentrating on his task, which peeved Hermione a little, but she couldn’t really blame the man for doing his job.

Not wanting to stand idle, she grabbed the parchment with all the calculations, notes and observations they had written down about this mysterious object, and started to review and add into her own previous notes, as she analysed the several different runes and symbols carved into the metal for the hundredth time. 

Her eyes widened in surprise and consternation, when, after a few minutes of scouring the metal engravings, she realised that they had missed a set of three miniscule unknown runes carved near the top of the box. 

“Malfoy, stop.” She urged the man, as she started to write down the runes to fix their work. “You did the calculations wrong.”

“Ok, Granger. I heard you the first time.” Malfoy huffed, but didn’t stop messing with the box, oblivious to the distress of his partner. “Now let me work in peace, woman.”

“No! Listen to-” Before she could say anything else, the man was already casting the unlocking charm with his wand into the sealed box’s door.

Within seconds, the structure started to shake, and all the runes started glowing in a strange bluish-green light, with a deafening whirring noise filling the small and cramped room. 

Malfoy took a step back and was about to cast a Protego around himself, but the door abruptly burst open, with tendrils of blue light wrapping around the blond man’s body and limbs, and suddenly yanking him into the box, closing the metal door behind him with a heavy and resounding thud, before Hermione could even properly comprehend the situation at hand.

She stood stunned for a second or two, mouth agape, staring at the metal box, with no partner on sight. 

Then, it dawned on her. 

‘ _ Oh my God. Malfoy was sucked into the box. _ ’ 

Following with. __

_ ‘I’m going to be SO fired. _ ’

“Malfoy!” She shouted, banging on the metal with her fists, because she really didn’t have anything else better to do. She certainly wasn’t going to risk casting any other charms in the volatile box. “Are you still alive inside there?”

The metal vibrated again, and the runes now glowed in a reddish light. Hermione was quick to duck behind her desk and cast as many protective charms around her as she could in the span of a few seconds.

The door opened again, with a strong and cold gust of wind coming from inside. She heard Malfoy screaming in panic, as he was thrown out of the door at an incredible speed, crashing into the stone walls of their tiny shared office in the Department of Mysteries.

“Oh my God.” Hermione gasped, looking at Malfoy, lying on the ground near the wall, unconscious and somehow naked ( _ but she was not going to think about THAT for now _ ). The metal box stopped glowing and vibrating, letting only the sound of Hermione’s anxious breathing fill the room.

For a second, she watched the man sprawled on the floor. Expecting him to fully get up, shrug his shoulders and flash her that infuriating ( _ and mildly intriguing _ ) smirk that was always followed by some teasing, witty and snarky comment about what had happened. He’d joke, and she’d respond with another light hearted jest and then they would get on with their lives and their jobs. Like nothing had happened.

But Malfoy didn’t get up. 

Hell, the man wasn’t even  _ moving _ .

She cast a containment charm into the box, to make sure it wouldn’t activate it again, and then turned to the passed out man, gulping in fear, as she checked for his pulse and breathing. She almost cried in relief when she felt that the man was still alive, despite the fact that his body was stone cold and his lips were a sickly blue color.

Hermione cast a warming charm on his body, and transfigured a blanket out of her outer robes. She then proceeded to write down a quick draft to their superiors explaining that an accident had happened, and that she needed to rush Malfoy into the hospital.

With a grunt she lifted the heavy body from the ground, and apparated them into St. Mungos’ reception desk, explaining that the man needed to be checked out immediately.

\-----

“Hey ‘Mione, I heard that you were here.” Harry said, as he entered the room with a frown. The witch had been sitting on the uncomfortable chair for at least an hour since Malfoy had been initially brought in and tended to.

“Hey, Harry.” Hermione sighed, still looking at her knocked out partner with a pang of guilt. If it wasn’t for Malfoy’s insistence in switching their positions, she’d be the one lying on the bed instead of him. ( _ Well, at least his face didn’t melt, that would have been a complete disaster. _ )

“So, can you tell me what happened?”

“Not really.” She fumbled with her Unspeakable badge, dreading her secrecy vow, now that she clearly had to deal with whatever that box was alone. Her only hope was for Malfoy to wake up and explain to her what had happened inside there. “It was a workplace accident.”

“Ah, it's alright... Is he going to be okay, though?” He asked, knowing that, as much as she liked to deny it, Hermione had grown to care  _ a lot _ about Malfoy with all the years they had been working closely together.

“The healers said that there’s no significant damage... A bit of bruising because he was thrown against a wall, but nothing major.”

“You look exhausted.” The wizard observed, slightly unnerved by how pale and tired Hermione looked. “I can stay here if you want to go down to the cafeteria and at least eat something.”

The witch bit her lip, looking at the blond man peacefully resting in the bed. Shaking her head she explained to Harry that she’d rather wait for Malfoy to wake up first. 

“I’ll need him to fill out all the damn paperwork.” She tried to joke, but Harry could see that she was struggling to smile.

“He’ll be fine, ‘Mione.” The dark-haired man squeezed her shoulder, and she looked like she wanted to downplay how worried she was, but a sudden sound of gasping startled both of them before she could say anything.

Malfoy opened his bleary eyes, and blinked a couple of times, looking around the room with a confused expression. Finally, he looked up, and fixed his gaze into Hermione’s concerned face.

“Honey?” He rasped out, and coughed. “What happened?”

“Hum.” Hermione raised a brow, unsure if she heard him right. He was probably confused by the blow anyway. “You’re at St. Mungo's, Malfoy. That blasted box exploded out of nowhere.”

“St. Mungo’s? I’ve never heard of this hospital before.” He winced, and covered his grey eyes with his hands, muttering something about the bright lights. But soon he seemed to absorb the witch’s words, and he widened his eyes in worry. “Explosion? And what box? Did something happen? Are you alright?!” 

He reached for her, sitting up from the bed, and touching her face and hands tenderly, as if he was searching for any signs of injury on her. Finally he sighed in relief when his supposed inspection showed him that she was fine. 

“At least you’re okay.” He said to the witch, completely unaware of her shocked face. And as he played with a stray lock of her hair, he leaned in and kissed her cheek, that was completely flushed at that point.

“Okay!” Harry choked out, breaking out from his shock, and running towards the door. “Clearly, I should call the healers. Something _ really _ wrong must have happened.”

Malfoy looked at Harry, confused by that statement, and Hermione took the time to stare at the man, subtly looking down at his left arm, with his hand tightly wrapped around hers. Her eyes widened and she gasped at the sight of a bare arm. 

His Dark Mark was completely gone.

Not faded, like it had been for a number of years since Voldemort died. Not hidden underneath a concealment charm. Not even red and scratched like it sometimes looked when Malfoy would try to clean it away with vicious scrubbing and strong cleaning spells. 

His arm was blank. Untouched. Like he had never been branded before in his life.

“Malfoy.” She called out to him with her voice trembling in uncertainty. He furrowed his brow in concern. “Do you… Do you remember the war?”

“War?” He mused, completely confused and unsure how to respond. “Like World War Two? I know some facts about it, but history wasn’t my best subject in school.”

A healer had entered the room, alongside Harry, and they both heard the baffling statement that the man had no recollection about the war that had ended merely five years ago. The healer pulled out his wand, to cast some diagnostic spells, especially regarding memory loss, and Malfoy seemed startled, asking what was he going to do with that stick.

Harry and Hermione exchanged worried looks. “What school did you attend?”

“That’s a stupid question, Potter. We attended the same school!” Malfoy rolled his eyes, and for a moment, they relaxed at the familiar snarky disposition of the blond wizard towards his childhood rival. Maybe Malfoy’s memories weren’t completely gone, after all. 

“Wycliffe Boarding School.” He answered after a beat of silence, and all the other occupants in the room gasped.

“Oh Merlin.”

“Yeah, that can’t be good.”

The healer ushered Hermione and Harry to settle down and stop scaring his patient, while he worked and diagnosed whatever problem was happening. After a long period of complete silence, the disgruntled healer sighed, and looked at the blond wizard.

“Mr. Malfoy, I’m pleased to inform you that you are completely healthy.” The healer said, carefully putting his wand away, but something in his face showed that he was wary of the news he was about to give. “You don’t have any broken bones or internal damage and your mind has been completely untouched by whatever happened today.”

“There’s something you’re not telling us.” Harry huffed in impatience.

“Well, it seems that he’s lost his magic.” The healer paused, letting the news sink in, but Malfoy seemed unfazed, if not confused. “Your magical core is completely gone.” He still had no reaction.

“You’re essentially a muggle now.” The healer insisted, and Hermione gasped in horror and Harry seemed shocked by the news. Malfoy was completely silent and seemingly annoyed by their reactions.

“So this means you have no idea what happened to him, right?” Hermione looked at the healer, who shrugged in response.

“I’m afraid that’s all I can do for you, Miss Granger. I’m sure what happened has something to do with your job, but since all information is confidential-”

“I’m going to have to find out what happened to him myself. I get it.”

“I have several questions.” Malfoy spoke, after watching the healer excuse himself and leave the room.

“I’m sure you have.” Hermione sighed, resisting the urge of bashing her head against the wall and screaming in frustration. “I’ll try to answer the most pressing one, for now.”

“Why did he call you Miss Granger?”

“What? What do you mean?”

“We’re married. You’ve been a Malfoy for three, almost four years now.”

“This day just gets weirder and weirder.” She mumbled under her breath, staring at the confused man.

\-----

They returned to her flat, walking all the way from St. Mungo’s, because she supposed that whatever happened to Malfoy had turned him into a muggle, with no memories of their recent history, and no knowledge about magic whatsoever. ‘ _ Almost like he’s a completely different man, despite having the same face, name and personality. _ ’

There, Malfoy seemed to take in the interior, meticulously analyzing the books and her movie collection on the shelf. He was startled when he looked at a moving photograph, but soon seemed to get used by the sight.

Her half-kneazle emerged from her room, to greet the guests, and immediately rubbed himself against the man’s long legs, purring when he cooed at him, much like he’d always do when the wizard visited her.

“Oh, hi Cookie.” He said, kneeling to pat the animal’s ear.

“Well, his name is-”

“Crookshanks.” He said with a teasing, and at the same time innocent grin. “I know. I call him Cookie because that’s an acceptable cat name, instead of whatever atrocity you named him.”

“Oh, okay...” She choked out, standing in the middle of her living room, still completely bewildered by the events of the day. “So.”

“This is weird.”

“A little, yeah” Hermione sighed, putting her hair up in a bun, and going to the kitchen to prepare some tea for both of them  _ (after all, this may be an otherworldly abnormality, but she was still a good host _ ). 

“I’m not sure what happened, but my main hypothesis is that you are an alternate Malfoy.”

“Like an alternate dimension? How did that happen?” The blond man looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Truth be told, Hermione was impressed at how well the man was holding up, considering he had been quite-literally thrown at such a weird reality. 

“I don’t know. Me and the other Malfoy were messing with some cursed box, and things kind of went tits up.” She said, grabbing some parchment and her quill. “Tell me what happened before you woke up in the hospital. Every single detail counts.”

“I was in bed with my wife.” He eyed Hermione carefully, and felt a smirk creeping up his face when the woman flushed and averted her eyes from him. “But then I heard something coming from the kitchen. I got up and went to investigate the sound, and found my fridge shaking violently and emitting some weird noises. When I got closer, the door opened, and I was pulled in. I don’t remember anything after that, just waking up in the hospital.”

“Oh Merlin. Which means that ‘ _ my _ ’ Malfoy is prowling around in your dimension. Probably annoying the hell out of ‘ _ your _ ’ Hermione. Which is something that I'd never wish upon anyone, ever.” The brunette sighed, already hacking her brain for solutions, but coming up with nothing.

“Oh, come on, I’m sure your Draco isn’t that bad.” The alternate Malfoy quipped, already making himself comfortable at the strange land. The man carried himself with a confident and nonchalant air much like his wizarding counterpart, it seemed.

“He’s awful!” She retorted, with a light-hearted chuckle. “It’s his fault you’re in this mess, anyway. The bloody git wouldn’t listen to me!”

“Then he better not muck up my marriage. It was hard enough to convince you the first time.” He winked at her. 

Hermione blushed again, and ignored the smirk forming on his face ( _ mentally, she added to the list of similarities the fact that he’s an incorrigible flirt, much like the wizard one. _ ) She wrote a letter explaining the current situation to her boss, explaining that she needed to work from home to make sure the Muggle Malfoy wouldn’t suffer any consequences from the dimension shift.

“I’ll go to my office and gather the notes we have and I’ll be gone for half an hour, at most. Don’t get in trouble!”

“I find it surprising that you’re so similar to my wife.” He said as a way of agreement, and Hermione managed to smile, before floo’ing to the Ministry.

When she returned, she sprawled herself into the sofa, reading the parchment several times, and scrutinizing the runes ( _ especially the ones they had previously missed _ ) in search of anything useful for her to fix the mess Malfoy had got into.

While she read, the other Malfoy offered some details about his life and his universe that would help her settle down the basic barebones of similarities and differences from their dimensions.

And as evening approached, Hermione prepared the guest room for the other Malfoy to sleep in for the night, deeply frustrated by the fact that she would probably spend days trying to figure out the runes and correct calculations.

\-----

“This is hard.” She huffed, after staring at the ancient runes for hours, willing them to just translate themselves. She had woken up early in the morning and had spent a good while chasing a particular line of thought, only to realize that it would lead her nowhere.

“I need more books.” She groaned, looking at the other Malfoy and cursing under her breath, as she remembered why her Malfoy was the one best suited to make the original arithmetics.

“What happened?”

“I need books, but the only way to get them would be at Malfoy Manor.” She cringed, thinking about the massive estate and enormous library she had visited only once or twice ( _ excluding her… initial visit _ .)

“You mean the Manor at Wiltshire?” The other Malfoy asked, and she nodded in return. “We can try to go there anyway. Does anyone else live there?”

“No, just you… Or him, rather.”

“Then I’m sure it’s fine. He won’t mind.” She still looked unsure and worried, so Malfoy offered her a gentle smile. “It’s our best bet isn’t it? I know the Manor will probably be as massive as the one I used to live in, but maybe I can guide you?”

“I-” She bit her lip, not sure if she should tell him that his alternate home was the place she had been brutally tortured in, but deep down, she knew that the Manor would be the most likely place a book about the use of Dark Magic in Ancient Runes would be found. “Maybe we can try? But I don’t know how we will get there.”

“Can’t you teleport like Potter did back in the hospital? Or is it because I’m a... mug?”

“Muggle.” She corrected him. “And well, technically it’s because muggles shouldn’t  _ know _ that magic exists at all.”

“We’re well past that, aren’t we?” He laughed.

So with a resigned sigh, ignoring the urge of laughing along with him. She grabbed his hand and warned him that it was probably going to be a very nauseating and unpleasant ride. 

At the Manor’s door, she groaned in annoyance when she noticed, not surprisingly, that the doors were locked, and she couldn’t even apparate inside the warded house.

“I used to keep a spare key under the doormat.” The other Malfoy ( _ which at this point, Hermione started referencing him as Mugglefoy, for the sake of simplicity _ ) said, eyeing the extravagant mat in front of the door.

“It can’t be that simple.” Hermione scoffed, lifting the mat all the same, with a wry smile. But then she gaped in disbelief “Oh my God, it’s that simple.” 

There wasn’t a key per se, but a round medallion, that emitted a slight glint in the gold that denounced the magic swirling inside it. Sure enough, the doors had a round shape where the doorknob should be located, implying that the object could be used to unlock the door.

When she tried it and the doors opened immediately, she choked in bewilderment. “You mean to tell me that the heir of one of the richest and most powerful pureblood families in wizarding England has the key to his massive and valuable Estate under his bloody mat?! For anyone to come inside?”

“Hey, don’t look at me like that! I just got here!” Mugglefoy raised his hands with a smirk.

“Fine! Show me where the library is.” She sniggered, closing the door behind her. Looking at the corridors she gulped, feeling an awful sense of nausea crawling up her throat and a bead of cold sweat forming in her brow. “But let’s not go anywhere near the drawing room.”

The man looked at her with a raised eyebrow, as if silently asking her if anything had happened in the drawing room, but she silently shook her head. He nodded in response, and guided them through the kitchens, observing out loud, every now and again, how different or how similar the Manor was from the one he lived in.

“Are you alright? You look pale.” He spoke up, still concerned by how nervous and flighty she was.

“I’ll be fine.” Hermione responded, unwilling to say anything else.

When they arrived at the library, Hermione smiled in glee. No matter how awful she considered that place, the massive, yet carefully catalogued library was always something that she could admire and respect.

With a quick swirl of her wand, she summoned two armchairs and several books regarding Ancient runes, Dark arts and Arithmancy that she thought would be helpful, while Mugglelfoy recounted more details and anecdotes about his life and the main events of his reality. 

After a couple of hours of painstaking research and notes, the man raised from his chair, returning after a while with a cup of tea and some biscuits for Hermione. As she sipped at the drink, she smiled in surprise when she realized that it was made just like she preferred. 

“I’m glad you like it.” He smiled, taking some biscuits for himself. “I figured you’d have the same tastes as my wife.”

She blushed slightly, still baffled at how flirty and charming Malfoy could be, had he not spent so much time of his life antagonising her. For a while, Hermione muses to herself that of all different dimensions Malfoy could have switched with, a loving and caring husband was far from the worst type of Malfoy out there.

In fact, she even took the opportunity to properly appreciate how handsome he truly was, without having to acknowledge his infuriating snarky and taunting nature. Though she felt a bit bad for technically ogling someone else’s husband ( _ even if said husband was hers, only of another dimension _ .)

\-----

“You’ve been stuck here all day.” He mused, as he looked out the window and watched the sun setting on the horizon. Though Hermione had holled herself up for hours reading inside the library, the man had taken the liberty of exploring his alternate estate for the majority of the day.

“Well, it’s not like the situation is going to fix itself.”

“You should probably rest.” He tells her, calling for one of the house elves ( _ weird bug eyed creatures, as Mugglefoy had called them _ ) with all the authority of someone that actually believed that they were the master of the house.

“What can Tilly do for Master?”

“Tilly, go prepare one of the guestrooms, Hermione needs to rest.”

“This  _ mudblood _ , sir?” The elf says with a sneer, glaring at the uncomfortable witch by his side. The entire room and atmosphere seemed to get colder, uncomfortable and univinting at the elf’s words. 

“Malfoy, stop.” She pleaded, stopping him from asking what ‘ _ mudblood _ ’ meant, and why that elf was so aggressive towards the guest. “I’ll just go home now.”

She had tears brimming her eyes, clutching her scarred arm from under the cloth of her sleeve, breathing deeply in an attempt to calm herself.

“Hey love. It’s okay.” The blond man cooed, noticing the distressed woman, and walking towards her with open arms, offering a hug that she gladly accepted. “Tilly, you’re dismissed.”

He held her until she stopped shaking, carefully wiping her tears away with a gentle thumb. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. You don’t know what happened.” She sniffed, scratching her scarred arm, which suddenly started to itch and unsettle her.

“Is this about the war?” He asked softly, as he held her hands to stop her from hurting herself. The sleeve had ridden up slightly, and the edge of the ugly and askew ‘ _ M _ ’ was visible enough for Mugglefoy to carefully touch it, removing his hand when the witch flinched away. 

“You mentioned something about a war, back in the hospital.” He continued, letting the witch dry her tears and regain her composure.

“Yes.” She said carefully, gathering the books she found most useful and chucking them into her beaded bag, not caring if her Malfoy would feel offended for her pillaging his Ancestral Home. “Let’s just get out of here, please.”

They returned to her flat via apparition and she immediately felt like she could breathe like a proper human being again. 

Mugglefoy remained quiet, while he helped her organize her books and research on top of her small dinner table. Hermione tried to ignore the thoughts of the war creeping back into her mind, deciding it would be better to occupy herself with the taxing work of translating confusing and frustrating ambiguous runes.

“I really think you should take a break, though.” The man tried again, reeling her away from the table and her research. “Come watch a movie with me. We can even watch your Disney movies that you love so much.”

Her lips quirked upwards with the invitation. Her mind was too tired and stressed for her to try and mess with the complications of magical quantum physics anyway, and it seemed like the other Hermione also binge-watched Disney movies when she was feeling anxious or distressed.

With a nod, she grabbed some blankets and made some popcorn so that she could watch Beauty and the Beast along with a kind and understanding Malfoy. ( _ A Malfoy much similar to her own, Hermione noticed. And she couldn’t help but wonder what their lives would have been like had it not been the war or the ideology of blood-purity. _ )

She fell asleep on the couch, but when she woke, she was back in her bed, with Mugglefoy retired in her guest room. She smiled to herself, silently thanking the man for being so kind to her, but inevitably, she thought about her own Malfoy and how he was faring on a strange and entirely muggle world. 

She hoped the wizard was adapting well to his circumstances. As much as he irked her for the most part, she knew he wasn’t the cruel and cold wizard he once was as a child, and he was nowhere near the monster everyone else accused him of being nowadays. In fact, after years of working together, Hermione could admit that he was a good friend. And behind his sarcastic humor and snarky disposition laid a trustworthy and even sweet man.

Mugglefoy woke a little later than her, with Crookshanks walking by his side, and thanked her profusely for her hospitality ( _ and for the delicious breakfast she had made for them both _ ). 

They started their routine once again, with her reading and scribbling down every single idea she could have for a charm to figure out how the box worked, while the man would talk to her about his life, which at that point, was less about her need to understand the other dimension and more about her need to fill the empty space with lively conversation.

The sound of the floo being activated made them turn to see Harry, Ginny and Ron visiting her flat, and although Hermione huffed and complained something about it ‘ _ technically being against the rules as an unspeakable _ ’ and ‘ _ potentially screwing up with her research _ ’, she allowed her friends to talk to the muggle Malfoy, as if he was a creature incomprehensible to human nature. 

“And you know what this is?” Ron pointed to the tv.

“It’s a goddamn television. Do you think I’m an idiot?” Mugglefoy snarked, irritated by the redhead man. 

“This is so weird. And yes, by the way, you _ are  _ an idiot.”

“You know, there’s a Ronald back in my dimension too.” The blond man had a devious smirk on his face, when he saw the other man’s face light up with curiosity. “He stole his father’s car and completely crashed the whole thing when he was sixteen. Now  _ that’s  _ something an idiot would do.”

“Play nice, you two.” Hermione shouted from her spot at the dinner table, fighting her urge to snigger at the dig he made at Ron.

Thankfully, with their friends there to distract the muggle Malfoy and to even offer some different views and inputs into what she was working on ( _ even Mugglefoy himself, as he recounted what he knew about the Schrödinger's cat theory _ ) she finally came up with a promising equation and charm that could potentially control the coordinates of the metal box.

With the promise of going to the Ministry by the next morning, Hermione jumped back onto her sofa, to join in the conversation with her friends ( _ and interdimensional husband… Not that she would openly refer to him that way _ ). Laughing at the stories about the other Harry Ron and Hermione, and about how much Hermione was a walking encyclopedia, in both of their universes.

\-----

“The muggle Malfoy is very charming, isn’t he? And handsome, too” Ginny asked after some time, with a sly smirk, when she managed to corner Hermione in the kitchen.

“Yes.” Hermione agreed with a chuckle, unsure what was the point of the redhead. “Too bad he’s married. And from a completely different dimension.”

She laughed, shrugging her shoulders. “Good thing you’ll soon get your own Malfoy. From the correct dimension, and completely free.”

“Ginny!”

“Come on, now. We know you have a crush on the ferret, ‘Mione, don’t deny it.”

“I don’t.” She denied it all the same, with a very unconvincing grimace. “And he doesn’t even like me, either.”

“He’s married to you!”

“In another dimension!”

“Have you noticed how similar the two Malfoys are? This one even calls me Red! It’s scary how alike they are personality wise. And by the way he talks about the other Hermione, you’re both pretty much alike, too.”

“And?”

“And he loves you! It’s obvious how the man is completely obsessed with his cute wife! He’ll reach for you only to remember you’re not  _ actually _ his wife and I’ve only been watching you two for half a day!”

“How about you let me first fix this problem, and then I’ll let you worry about my love life.”

“Fine by me, but you better have wizard Malfoy as your date at the Ministry’s Ball!” Ginny pleaded to her friend, as she continued to prattle about all the other opportunities she had wasted in the past of asking the blond wizard on a date. “I’m serious, Hermione! Or else I swear I’ll polyjuice myself and ask him on your stead!”

The brunette didn’t respond, opting to just glare at her friend and grab some of the snacks she had stored away to bring back to the rest of the group. However, for the rest of the day, Hermione mulled about the conversation, considering the possibility that maybe she should listen to Ginny’s advice. 

\-----

The next day, Hermione found herself at the Ministry, standing before the metal box once again and inspecting the blasted thing, in search for possibly any other microscopic rune she might have missed, but finding nothing else that differed from her extensive research.

Mugglefoy stood behind her, inside a protective barrier that she had set up, just to be on the safe side. A wary look in his face denoted how worried he was to be staring at such enigmatic and frankly terrifying metal contraption.

Hermione knelt before the metal box, slightly unnerved by the silent blond man behind her. ‘ _ Wizard Malfoy would be nagging me right now. _ ’ She thought with a bittersweet pang on her chest.

With a confident flick of her wand, she cast her modified charm, and carefully switched the runes around the box to form the coordinates that she desired. Finally, she spelled out the unlocking charm, and jumped back quickly behind the set up barrier, watching the box with a bated breath.

The box glowed, much like the first time, but no violent vibration or sound happened. Carefully, the witch approached the thing, touching the slightly ajar door, and calling Mugglefoy over to see what was inside the box.

“Oh wow.” He started, with a chuckle. “That’s not at all what I expected.”

“It’s a... Fridge?” Hermione mused, denoting the cold interior and the shelves of leftover food and a stored away dessert. 

“It’s  _ my _ fridge no less. Can’t believe we haven’t thrown away that chinese take away yet, it’s been there for ages.” 

“Right... I’m going to open the door now.” She said, placing her hand into the fridge’s opening. With a good strong shove to force the door open, she jumped inside the cozy apartment, looking around Mugglefoy’s kitchen.

“Granger!” A familiar voice called out from the doorway.

“Malfoy!” She shouted back, unable to stop her relieved smile, running to meet up with the wizard, with Mugglefoy following behind her, calling out for his wife.

“I never thought I’d be so happy to see your bushy hair again.” Malfoy laughed, catching the petite witch by surprise when he hugged her.

“I’ve come to rescue you. And return the other you back into his rightful place.” She said, as she looked at the reunited couple embracing each other with much more passion and love than the Unspeakable partners. 

“This is so strange!” Muggle Hermione said, staring at her witch counterpart. “I can’t believe that magic is real.”

She was identical to Hermione in terms of looks, though it was clear by her bare arms that she had no horrible scars in her body, and her hair was shorter and better managed than the witch. Everything else was eerily similar, though. 

“Well’, it’s real in  _ our _ world. I don’t think it’s quite real in yours.” Malfoy shrugged, and Hermione guessed that they had had that conversation sometime during his few-days stay in the alternate dimension.

“Which is very unfair, in my opinion.” Mugglefoy offered, setting his arm around muggle Hermione’s waist, recounting some events of teleportation, summoning, and magical creatures he had witnessed. 

After a minute of both pairs catching up among themselves regarding the completely unusual situation, the witch suggested to them that it was time to say their farewells.

“We should return to our own dimension. We’ll probably have loads of paperwork to fill.” She only half-joked, troubled by the thought they would probably have to spend days writing down the reports of that mess.

“Should we obliviate them?’ Malfoy asked with a frown, disliking his own suggestion. After a minute or so of consideration, she shook her head.

“I’m sure there’s another Hermione and Draco of another dimension that did, but I don’t think we should.” She said with a smile, sparing herself and the alternate couple the emotional pain that comes with obliviation.

“Besides, It’s not like anyone will believe them.” She winked at the couple.

“Truth be told, I can’t even believe myself either.” Muggle Hermione laughed. “Goodbye Draco, hope you think about what we talked about.”

“Sure thing, woman.” Malfoy said, letting himself be pulled by the witch back into the fridge and into the metal box.

\-----

“We’ll definitely have to destroy this box.” Hermione said, stepping into her own land with a sigh of relief as she shut the door. “This is far too dangerous to be just lying around.”

“But think of all the fun we could have!”

“Yeah, like a living Voldemort from another dimension invading our own and starting yet another war.” Hermione deadpanned, and Malfoy quickly doubled back looking at the box with a wary expression.

“Okay, let’s burn this thing.”

“I’ll concede that it was fun though. Talking to you as a muggle, I mean.” Hermione sighed, still remembering how sweet Malfoy could be, if he wasn’t such a prick as a wizard.

“I know. It was like you were the same person, but different.” He mused, looking not-so-subtly at her covered scarred arm. The pair walked out of the Ministry together, going back to her flat to gather the rest of their notes and the books she had borrowed from his library.

With a sigh, the man settled himself near the witch on her couch, and nudged her with his body, and she playfully nudged him back, glad to have her snarky and taunting Malfoy back.

“So, do you have any dates for the Ministry’s Ball?” Hermione finally asked, at the same time as Malfoy had blurted out a “Would you like to grab a coffee with me someday?”

They looked at each other with knowing smiles. Maybe after this adventure things would be different between them, and in a way, very similar to another dimension.  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Added Draco's POV!

“You’re doing it wrong.” He told her with only a slight smirk, and he almost chuckled at the way her shoulders tensed up and stilled in clear annoyance.

Draco wouldn’t ever admit it out loud, but he was extremely nervous, as he watched the muggleborn witch working so closely (and _looking so vulnerable_ ) next to that metal monstrosity that the bloody Ministry had chucked at them at the beginning of the month. 

Anyone with a half a brain would have just destroyed that thing as soon as they looked at how many dark runes were engraved at the walls. 

But no. The Ministry insisted that they needed to test it out and scope out the nature of that device first. For the sake of science, of course.

“I’m not.” Granger snapped at him, and it was cute how much she was struggling to keep a calm and composed demeanor. By the way things were looking, she’d soon cave in.

“You did the calculations yourself. If there’s anything wrong, it’s your fault.” She huffed. 

Yes, he did in fact do all the calculations by himself. He had insisted on doing so. If you want something done right, you must do it yourself and all that rot.

Draco had spent a good portion of his days holled up in his library copying word-for-word every single information he could find about every single rune that they had located in that cursed box. He needed the equations to be absolutely _perfect_ to make sure that everything ran smoothly for when Granger ( _his stupidly brave and reckless partner_ ) eventually and inevitably volunteered herself to mess with that ridiculous box.

Merlin, they could have just ordered an intern to activate the box instead. It would have been so much simpler! But of course she had been appalled by his suggestion. 

Would it kill for these Gryffindors to have a single inkling of self-preservation in their souls?

He leaned into the stone wall of their miniscule office and carefully crafted another response, making sure to add his most obnoxious mocking tone he could muster. “My calculations are correct, but you’re not following them as you should.” 

His smile grew when he heard her strangle a groan and deeply inhale and exhale slowly. Her resolve was failing, just like he had anticipated.

Thankfully, Draco knew that the woman was smart enough to not have her wand drawn when she was still composing herself. After all, a workplace accident was exactly the opposite of what he wanted to make.

He allowed her only a minute for her to calm herself down until he spoke up again, but this time in a quieter tone, practically unintelligible, but hopefully annoying enough. “I mean, there’s no shame in admitting you’re wrong every once in a while, love.”

She straightened herself up, jumping away from the box with a scowl and fiery eyes that he secretly loved so much. 

“Would you like to try it, then?” Her hair was puffed up, and her cheeks were flushed with anger. She was indeed a very beautiful witch, even when she was angry. “Clearly, you think I’m incapable of doing my job!”

“Don’t be dramatic, Granger.” Draco rolled his eyes, and inside his mind he was thanking Merlin, Circe and Morgana for finally managing to get Granger away from that thing. He didn’t even hesitate to approach it, raising his own wand. 

“I’m just pointing out some mistakes because I care about you and I don’t want your face to melt when we open this death trap.” And that wasn’t even a lie. It’s a shame that he knew the witch would never take him seriously. 

“How considerate.” She told him with disdain in her voice.

“You know I am.” He flashed her his most charming grins, and was pleased to see that he made her flustered. 

Now, all he had to do was deal with that metal box, and hopefully issue an order to destroy it before lunch hours rolled around. He worked silently and cautiously, following his partner’s guidelines that she had drafted earlier, and was actually impressed at how smoothly things were going for them.

Huh, maybe that _wasn’t_ a death trap after all?

He was confident ( _and frankly, quite proud_ ) in his own work and equations. Granger’s notes and experiments of her own were also impressive and meticulous, and by the looks of it, everything was happening as it should. No face melting had happened so far.

Maybe there was something actually interesting or powerful inside that box. Something, huge, even, judging by the size and weight of that thing. 

And well, if nothing ghastly had happened until then, maybe nothing bad would happen at all, as long as he worked with caution. 

He was almost getting to the final stages of activation of the box when he heard Granger shuffling about their office, surely looking for something to occupy herself. After a minute, he heard her mocking him “You’re doing it wrong.” 

But Draco was too busy releasing some of the more complicated and intricate wards for him to actually respond to her taunts with anything witty. He dissolved another cursed bond from the box’s opening and held his breath in anticipation, as he recognized that he’d soon have to cast the unlocking charm _(And hopefully, there would be gold and treasures inside the box, instead of sudden and painful death_ ).

Draco heard more papers being shuffled behind him,and a loud gasp coming from the brunette, but he wasn’t interested in turning around. Damn, if that witch wasn’t distracting enough on her own. 

“Malfoy, stop! You did the calculations wrong.”

“Ok, Granger. I heard you the first time.” He huffed, with his eyes still glued to the next series of wards he needed to take down. “Now let me work in peace, woman.”

There. The wizard smiled proudly when he heard a last soft ‘click’ coming from the box.

Now he just needed one more charm, and soon the hard part of that mission was going to be over. He raised his wand and confidently muttered the spell, pointing at the metal door. Wait, was Granger still talking?

“No! Listen to-” 

But the man had already unlocked the door before she could say anything else. Immediately, the metal started to shake, shine and _scream_ violently. Draco widened his eyes and gasped, startled by the now highly unstable magic that was swirling around their office.

_Well, THAT wasn’t supposed to happen._

He tried to raise his wand to cast protective charms around himself and Granger, but the doors had opened right in front of him, with a strong and cold gust of wind and strange blue-ish tendrils that wrapped tightly and painfully around his entire body. 

His mind couldn’t even comprehend what exactly was happening before he was pulled into the box and thrown back out with just as much force. 

However, he managed to compose himself just enough to grasp the wand he still held tightly in his hand and shout a cushioning charm against the white walls he was currently getting flung at.

Draco hit the wall and fell to the floor without any significant damage to his body. He breathed in deeply, trying to conjure back the air that was knocked out of his lungs with his fall at the same time that he scrambled to his feet with his wand drawn, ready to defend himself against whatever dangerous creature or Dark wizard that could be potentially residing in…. Wherever he was.

_Wait, where WAS he?_

It looked like a luxurious and modern flat, much different from the drab and dark stone walls of the Department of Mysteries and much too minimalistic to be a wizarding apartment ( _or at least, a pureblood wizarding apartment, anyway_ ). Especially considering that there were several muggle contraptions that he had seen in Granger’s apartment before.

_‘At least my face didn’t melt_.’ Draco thought mirthlessly. Because as much as he could recognize that he wasn’t in immediate mortal peril, he also had no idea what the hell had happened, nor where the hell he was. 

‘ _Maybe Granger will find a way to fix this?_ ’ He mused in slight despair, realizing that the metal box was nowhere in sight and at the thought of the brunette witch, he sighed in relief. At least she wasn’t the one to get snatched by that blasted thing.

“Draco?” He widened his eyes, and lifted his head towards the origin of the sound. That was Granger’s voice. Did that mean she was also affected by whatever spell that box contained? 

_Was she alright?_

The man heard soft footsteps coming from the hallway and he gasped in horror when he realized that Granger was walking around _naked_ and somehow she didn’t even seem bothered by it. Nor did she look distressed or confused by whatever happened with the box at the Ministry.

_How intriguing._

“Granger!” He choked, averting his eyes from her impressive figure. And Merlin help him, he hadn’t blushed since he was a bloody _teenager_.

“Did I do something wrong? You only call me by my maiden name when you want to argue with me.” She asked with a light-hearted chuckle and approached the man, touching his arm tenderly. “Why are you wearing a costume?”

“Costume?” The wizard was hastefully shrugging off his outer robes to drape them around Granger’s small frame. He was starting huff with impatience at the witch’s nonchalance. “Granger, what the hell happened?”

“Draco, you’re scaring me.” She frowned in concern and damn him if that wasn’t making him feel guilty as hell. She reached up to touch his forehead. “Do you need to go to a doctor? You’re not feverish.”

He looked at her bare arm and froze in shock, widening his eyes and yet again. He carefully wrapped his hand around her wrist, bringing her arm down so that he could get a better look at it.

There was no horrible scar there. 

Her scars were often covered by her clothes and disillusioned charms. He only saw his aunt’s ghastly scrawls once or twice in all years they had worked close together, and though they had both tried several different spells, potions, charms and even muggle methods to get rid of that awful injury, they had all been useless. The cursed blade was too powerful for them to reverse the effects.

But now her arm was blank. Untouched. Like she had never been brutally tortured in her life at all. 

“Are you alright, love? You look pale.” Granger spoke to him with so much tenderness that he instinctively relaxed at the sound of her voice. 

Well, that couldn’t be right. 

Sure, they were friends now, and have been for a while ( _he even dared to affirm that the feisty witch cared for him a lot_ ). And yes she had forgiven him for all the horrible things that he had done to her during school and all the nightmarish experiences she had lived in his Ancestral Home. 

But the way she was currently speaking so softly to him, touching him so gently and looking at him with so much devotion, concern and _love_. That wasn’t right.

That Granger ( _the one that was standing right in front of him, naked and comfortable wearing only HIS robes_ ) wasn’t the Granger he knew and worked with. Because although he wished so strongly for that to be true, the Hermione Granger he knew didn’t love him ( _yet, at least_ ).

And by the look of it, that Granger must be thinking he was some… _other Draco_. Did he travel in time?

“Do we have any newspapers here?” He blurted out, making his way to the windows to peer down at the streets below. It looked like he was somewhere in muggle London

She looked at him like he was a madman, with a raised eyebrow and pursed lips, but ultimately shrugged her shoulders and walked towards the coffee table, to retrieve the papers.

The man grabbed the papers and wasn’t even surprised to see that he wasn’t holding a copy of the Daily Prophet at all, even though he could see just by skimming the articles that the style and quality of journalism of ‘ _The Sun_ ’ were very similar to its wizarding counterpart.

He looked at the date at the top of the page, and quickly confirmed with that strange Granger that he was holding the most recent issue.

April 15, 2003, the exact date that he was sucked into the box earlier in the day. Well, it seems like he hadn’t travelled through time nor space, after all. 

Which meant that he most likely travelled to another dimension. It would make the most sense, considering some of the runes that were carved in the metal translated to ‘travelling’ and ‘layers of the universe’. 

He groaned in irritation and silently cursed the idiot that decided that it was a good idea to mess with such complicated and dark magic. Now he _really_ had no idea or resources to fix the problem. Hopefully, his Granger would be able to find a way to bring him back.

“Will you tell me what’s going on now?” The _other_ Granger asked him with a slight tremble in her voice and Draco straightened up his pose, musing for a second if he should explain the entire situation or not.

“Right.” He hesitated before continuing. The witch always responded better when he was blunt with her, maybe this one will be the same. “I’m a wizard from another dimension, and it seems like I switched places with the other Draco from your universe because of a work accident.”

He wasn’t surprised at all when the brunette gaped at him for a second, before she started laughing hysterically. The blond remained silent, staring at her without even mustering a slight smile or smirk, while she gradually calmed down and stopped sniggering. 

“You don’t expect me to believe you, right?”

“It’s the truth.”

“Magic doesn’t exist!” She frowned and glared back at him, as if she was trying to see his façade crack at any minute. “Maybe I should get you to a doctor, after all.”

Though he wasn’t shocked by the revelation that he was dealing with a muggle _(in fact, the wizard was already suspecting ever since he noticed her lack of scars_ ), he was still slightly disappointed by that fact. 

He thought about it for a moment, and finally decided that it would be better if he just showed her instead of trying to convince her with words. He pulled out his wand from the holster and confidently shouted the patronus charm, letting the silvery and cheerful otter dance and twirl in the air, right in front of the dazed woman.

“I can do a lot more, if you’re still unconvinced.”

“Just-” She hesitated, staring intensely at the wispy otter that dissolved and disappeared when she tried to touch it. “Just give me a second! This is so weird!”

He nodded, and gave her enough space to process her thoughts quietly, taking his chance to analyse the woman before him. She looked and sounded exactly like the Granger he knew, and even had the same adorable quirks of biting down her lower lip and nervously pace around the room when she was deep in thought.

But her hair was less bushy, frizzy and wild, he noticed, and her figure was healthier, softer and fuller than the one that was still recovering from a war. It made him wonder how he compared to the other Draco ( _was he also a muggle just like her?_ ).

After a minute of frantic pacing, the brunette stopped abruptly and looked up at the wizard with widened and concerned eyes. “What about my husband? Is he alright?”

“He’s perfectly fine.” Draco assured her with a confident smile. “I’m sure that the Granger from my world is already figuring a way to bring him back.”

He had absolutely no idea how that other Draco was faring in his universe, and he could only pray that his witch was there to help him out, but it’s not like he was going to destroy that poor muggle’s heart just like that. The wizard smiled at the sight of the pretty brunette relaxing and smiling back at him.

But now he couldn’t ignore that fact anymore. In another universe he got to marry Hermione Granger. And she wasn’t even coerced to do so, by the looks of it!

“And is there anything you can do… Sir?” She asked with a wary look on her face.

“I don’t think there’s much I can do.” He said softly, putting his wand back to his holster and trying to seem as inoffensive as he could. “We’re just going to have to wait around, I’m afraid.”

“I see.” She deflated with a sad smile on her face, and turned when they both heard a strange yowl coming from behind them.

“Oh! This is Crookshanks.” Granger cooed and told the wizard, as the fat orange cat sauntered across the room to rub his face against his legs.

“Wow, even as a muggle you still cursed him with this horrendous name.” He sniggered, and the brunette playfully batted at his arm, rolling her eyes. 

“Granger.” Draco spoke up, after a minute of just playing with the completely normal ( _albeit slightly overweight_ ) cat. She hummed in acknowledgment and then he continued. “You do realise you’re still naked, right?”

She gasped and flushed deeply, excusing herself back into the master bedroom to put on some clothes. He was still laughing loudly when she returned moments later with some proper clothes and his robes on her hands.

She returned shortly after dressed in some comfortable muggle clothes and with an apologetic smile which only made Draco curse himself silently with thoughts of jealousy regarding his own alternate self. ‘ _Damn lucky chap_ ’.

The pair spent the rest of their day just sitting around in the apartment with a somewhat awkward air between them and brief conversation in which Draco mostly answered her numerous questions about magic and the magical world while the other Granger explained and showed a few of the muggle contraptions in her home ( _the tv, in particular, was especially alluring Draco, which had quickly elected a favourite football team to cheer for_ ).

When night drew nearer, she showed him the spare room and the blond man almost choked on his tea when he heard her say that they were planning to convert it into a nursery soon.

He wasn’t even aware how much he was seething in envy for the life he would never get until the gentle woman asked him why he was frowning so much.

\-----

The next morning, after they ate their breakfast together, the muggle and the wizard sat back down on the couch to talk about their strange situation and mindlessly watch some cheesy movies on the tv. But after the second repetitive action movie, the wizard couldn’t take it anymore.

He groaned in irritation, getting up from the comfortable couch and hastily fixed his hair with his hands and looked at the slightly unnerved woman still sitting.

“I can’t just stand around waiting for Granger!” He cried, scouring his brain for other options he could try.

“You mentioned that the magic in your world is a secret for the normal people, right?” The muggle muttered to him, and Draco widened his eyes, realizing what she meant.

“Merlin, you’re brilliant!” He gasped and smiled at the now flustered woman. He told her about the inconspicuous entrance behind the Leaky Cauldron that they could try, and she offered to drive them there. With a bit of skepticism on her part, she grabbed the car keys and they both descended to get to the vehicle.

When they descended to the parking space of the apartment, Draco gulped in apprehension, watching the petite woman approach one of those metal contraptions that were used by muggles to get around places. 

Sure he knew what cars were and what they were used for, but he never entered one before and his Slytherin friends would often tell horror stories involving those apparent death traps.

“It won’t bite.” Granger laughed, with a teasing smile, and the man rolled his eyes, but opened the car’s door all the same

“I’m just worried about my well-being. I heard that a lot of muggles die crashing these things.”

“Now you’re just calling me a bad driver!” She quipped igniting the engine on and chuckling at the startled jump coming from the wizard. “I promise you you won’t die.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” He grumbled under his breath, fighting the urge to smile.

And just like she had promised, they arrived at their destination without dying or gravely injuring themselves, and although he didn’t have anyone else he could compare her with, he had to concede that muggle Granger was the best driver he knew. 

“Is this the place?” The woman by his side asked with a grimace, while she eyed the dingy and abandoned inn.

“Yes.” He assured her with much more confidence and enthusiasm than what he had the previous day. Maybe he was in another world, but that didn’t mean that magic didn’t exist!

_Magic did not exist._

He entered the abandoned building and tried to remain positive, even when he didn’t feel a single inch of magic coming from anywhere near him. He trudged further into the brick wall and pressed on the correct bricks, while the muggle woman looked at him like he was insane and he cursed under his breath.

He stood in the dilapidated pub and tried as he might, there was no entrance to be seen. Another idea popped in his head, and he pulled his wand to cast all the detection charms he could think of, but by the looks of it, he was the only magical being in the _country_.

So, unless he was willing to spend the rest of his stay in that universe trying to learn some Russian, Swahili and/or Mandarin to scour around the globe looking for another potential magical being, he was pretty sure he was going to be stuck where he was.

Or at least until his Granger came around to rescue him.

\-----

“Don’t look so defeated now.” The brunette cooed at him, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder while he stared out the car window with a forlorn look in his face. 

After his bleak discovery that magic wasn’t a thing in that universe, Draco’s mood had considerably soured, and he resorted to his stoic and taciturn façade for the rest of the car ride back to the muggle’s flat.

“We have to trust your… Friend to find a way to bring back my husband and take you back home.” The alternate Granger offered him, with a tentative smile, and Draco only sighed.

“You’ve always been the optimist between the two of us, Granger.” He said, sinking further into his seat.

“Don’t I know it?” She chuckled, ignoring his icy glare. “Maybe I should take you shopping, so you can forget about things for a while.”

“Shopping?’ Draco mused with a snorted laugh. He had never been to a muggle shopping street before, though the witch Granger had told him about it before, and had even tried to coax him into joining her trips a number of times. “Is this how you distract your husband when he’s morose?”

“Not at all!” She said with a smirk much similar to his usual ones, but he could also see that she was slightly flushed. “But usually the things I do to cheer my husband up are a bit more private.”

He raised an eyebrow with a devious smirk in his face, which elicited a deeper flush on the petite woman by his side, as she tried to quickly change the subject by prattling about the usual things she did to cheer her friends up. 

\-----

“I feel like I’ve been tricked.” Draco teased the muggle woman as soon as she parked the car to dart towards a big and flashy book store, clearly eyeing up some of the new arrivals on the store front.

“Oh, shush! You wouldn’t want to buy clothes or candies anyway!” She snarked back at him.

He chuckled, and quietly agreed with the woman, as she erased around the store, gushing about all the books she wanted to buy, while also asking the wizard if he had ever heard or read any of the books on display.

“Oh, have you ever read this one?” She pointed to a thick novel with a green ugly lady in black dress and a pointy hat, next to a long bearded old man, both standing in what looked like a bubbling caldron. “It’s about a boy that ends up in a magical school and goes through several adventures with his friends while also defeating an evil wizard!”

“Sounds rubbish.”

“It isn’t!” Granger gasped, holding the book next to her heart. “It was my favourite book when I was a kid! And it has magic and wizards! Just like you!”

He looked at her, opening up his mouth to joke about the silly things muggles thought about magic when he was interrupted by another girly gasp, followed by a pair of cheerful voices.

“Hermione!” A familiar-looking red headed man waved at them, at the other side of the shop. 

“Oh, Merlin.” Draco sighed in distress at the sight of Weasley ( _a Muggle Weasley, no less_ ) dangerously making his way towards them. To make matters worse, he was dragging Red and Saint Potter along with him, all with infuriatingly chirpy smiles 

“Is the other Draco friends with all of them?” He asked in a hasty whisper.

“He says that they are annoying, but I know that he likes them a lot, deep down.” She whispered back, with a devious grin. “You better pretend you’re my husband. Try not to be weird.”

“Why should I?” He asked, pursing his lips. After a second, he added with a huff. “And I’m not weird.”

“If you tell them you’re a wizard, they will throw you in an asylum! Also, you kept asking me what was the toaster for and keeps referring to my cellphone as a ‘ _blocky owl_ ’”

“Fine, woman!” He hissed with a displeased scowl, but soon straightened himself up when the insufferable trio were already launching themselves to hug the muggle Granger.

“I had no idea you’d be out and about this weekend!” The muggle Red gushed at her friend, and added with a loud whisper “Weren’t you adamant that you were going to spend it in bed all day~”

“Ginny!” The brunette elbowed the woman and Draco had to avert his eyes from the two bickering women.

“What? It’s not like you can make a baby any other way!”

“I think that’s enough information for now.” The muggle Potter sighed, urging the woman to change the subject. And thank Merlin for that, Draco certainly didn’t need to hear how much brighter his alternate life was.

This other Potter was a dark-haired, green-eyed man, much like the Golden Boy himself, but he strangely lacked the scar on his forehead, and he didn’t look nearly as old and tired as the auror back in his world. It served as an uncanny reminder that none of them had ever been through a war.

The muggle weasel, however, was very much like his wizard counterpart. Considering he was noisily eating a pack of.... Doritos? And obviously mooning over his ( _alternate self’s_ ) wife.

_What a slimy git_. Draco glared at him with a slight scowl. 

“Cat got your tongue, Malfoy?” The ginger menace asked him. Only then had the wizard noticed that they had probably asked him something, but he was too distracted by his own observations to actually listen to what they said.

“Oh.” He choked out hastily. “I’m just impressed to see you in a bookstore at all. Do you even know how to read?” He looked pointedly at the red-headed man that was standing suspiciously close to Granger.

While the brunette shot him a displeased glare, the rest of the group sniggered at his response. “For a second, we were worried you were sick, mate!” 

“Have you guys eaten yet?” Red asked the pair, as she invited them to eat something together in the McDonalds nearby. Much to Draco’s dismay, Granger promptly accepted the offer with a smile.

“It’s just fast food!” She whispered to him when they were walking slightly ahead of the rest of the group. “I’m sure you wizards must be familiar with those!”

When the group arrived at the establishment, Draco refrained from outright sneering at the overly casual air. Thankfully, muggle Granger had kindly offered to make the orders in his place, promising to get him something that her husband liked.

“This is abysmal! No self-respecting wizard would ever eat something like this!” Draco hissed in Granger’s ear when her friends were too distracted talking among themselves.

It was the first time he had eaten a cheeseburger in his entire life, and he could feel his father spinning in his grave ( _and as amusing and gratifying as that thought was, it was still an aggravating situation he found himself in_ ). And Draco couldn’t for the life of him understand how the people sitting across him seemed to enjoy that type of food at all. From his perspective, it had been horribly greasy, bland and he wasn’t even sure if he was eating _real_ meat at all!

The muggle chuckled, unceremoniously grabbing one of his chips. He batted her hand away without even noticing, to stop her from stealing his food.

“You devoured your burger surprisingly fast for someone that hated it.” She quipped and the blond man had no idea how to deny that accusation. 

“I’m merely being polite!” He sniffed, eating the remainder of his chips. 

“Sure, keep telling yourself that, darling.” She laughed, turning her attention to her friends, as they all continued to talk about their lives while Draco surreptitiously listened and compared the two realities and the personalities of the muggle counterparts.

\-----

The next morning, Draco sighed in resignation and veiled annoyance, pacing around the living room. Now that he realised that he _really_ could do nothing to fix his problem, he finally decided to just relax and experience the life of another dimension. 

His eyes wandered through the living room, until they rested upon some shelves near the hallway’s entrance. He noticed that there were several books and chuckled ‘ _of course, Granger was still an avid reader, no matter the universe she was in_ ’, but there were also several photographs standing in between the books.

The blond wizard approached them to have a better look, and his face formed a soft smile. There were pictures of him ( _or rather, the Muggle Draco_ ) holding the muggle Granger by the waist with a loving smile on both of their lips. There were some pictures of their friends and a few of their families, but none were as mesmerizing as the ones in which his Doppelganger hugged his wife.

The larger photograph showed them posing elegantly in their wedding attire. Hermione looked beautiful, radiant and so _happy._ Dressed in white and holding a honestly ridiculous and extravagant bouquet, while the blond man had just about the goofiest smile on the planet (and _possibly of all universes combined_ ). Merlin, he was such a sap.

“So, you really married him, huh.” Draco muttered out loud, without even realising it.

“I did. I love him, after all.” She responded with a smile, and the wizard turned his head to stare at her with knitted brows. Was this the life he could have had if the war hadn’t happened?

“He loves you too.” Draco had no doubts about that, and he only said it as a way to end the conversation, nothing else. But the muggle Granger seemed to pick up the longing of his voice, or perhaps his forlorn look gave it away. Well, she was as cunning and observant as the witch, by the looks of it.

“You know, you remind me of my husband back when we were still only friends.”

“Oh?” He looked at her with a raised eyebrow in clear interest and she chuckled at his reaction.

“Yes. Back in school we used to bicker and argue a lot. We were always competing for the best grades and more academic prizes! I’d dare to say we hated each other at some point!”

He swallowed a thick lump in his throat and unconsciously reached to grab his own left arm, covered by the muggle oxford shirt he had borrowed. It was strange to hear her talk about that type of rivalry between them ( _or rather, the alternate them_ ) with a nostalgic smile on her face. 

“What changed? How can you go from hating one another to getting married?” He asked with an even tone, and Granger continued talking, unaware of his somber mood.

“One day we just started working together, and we realized we were good study partners.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Actually, I’m the one that approached him first.”

“Of course. You’re the Gryffindor, after all.” Draco laughed at her confused expression, but she continued telling the story all the same. 

“He was very annoyed about it at first, but he never really stopped me from getting closer. After enough time, I realized that he was just really bad at opening up to other people. It took me months to earn his trust.”

“And did he ever get better at dealing with his own emotions?”

“Yes. Though it was mostly his own merit, I did have to lecture him a bit, and clearly you need some tough love as well.”

“Sorry?” The wizard looked at her confused.

“It doesn’t take a genius to realize how infatuated you are with this other Granger, you know?” He glared at her with pursed lips and refrained from denying, letting her continue. “Yet, it looks like you’ve never told her how you really feel! How is she supposed to read your mind?”

“You don’t understand. She hates me.” 

“Has she told you that?”

“Well...” He hesitated, how could he possibly explain to her all the horrible things his family and himself put his Granger through during the war? How could someone like her possibly love him after all that happened? Sure, Granger had forgiven him. And yes, they got along just as fine years after the war ended, but he knew she would never fall in love with him. 

“She never told me as much. But she does get mostly annoyed with everything that I do.”

“It’s because pulling pigtails and back handed compliments is a terrible way to tell someone you like them!” She laughed, and Draco rolled his eyes wanting to protest. “Really, you should try being more straightforward with her, you know?”

“If he's anything like me, I doubt your husband admitted his feelings to you just like that!” The blond man glared at the woman.

“Not quite, but after enough time he finally realized that he needed to actually ask me out if he wanted to date me!” She laughed, as she continued to fondly remember some other events that she lived with her husband while they were still dating.

They spent the rest of the day quietly talking about some other differences about their own lives and also enjoying some books and movies, but her words kept echoing in the back of his mind. And judging the way she was smirking at him, it was clear that she knew what she had done.

“Really, Draco. You need to tell her how you really feel.” The muggle Granger told him just as she was retreating back into her room to sleep.

“And if she rejects me?” He asked, feigning nonchalance.

“Then you move on, I guess.” The woman offered him an apologetic smile. “Wouldn’t it be better to just let her know how you feel? She may feel the same way.”

_‘Damn Granger for always being the rational one out of the two of us ,no matter the universe.’_

\-----

He was lying in the bed of the spare room he was residing for the time being when he heard a familiar whirl and screech coming from somewhere inside the apartment. 

Draco jumped out of the bed with his wand drawn, ready to defend the muggle Granger and himself. He followed the sounds to the kitchen, where he watched with only slight apprehension, the box that the woman had told him was a fridge shaking and glowing, much like the other metal box had done in the past.

The wizard raised his wand, warily observing the movements slow down, just as he heard two unintelligible voices coming from within the fridge.

Suddenly, the door opened, letting a familiar witch with a frizzy mane of brown hair enter the flat and curiously look around. He couldn’t help but smile broadly at the sight, and soon called for her attention. “Granger!”

“Malfoy!” She smiled back at him, and he was elated to see her running towards him, just as the other ( _very similar_ ) figure also stepped inside the apartment, and ran towards his muggle wife, calling for her.

He smiled with only a slight feeling of envy for a minute, looking at the couple lovingly embracing each other, and rapidly wrapped his own arms around _his_ Granger, smiling when she gasped in surprise. 

“I never thought I’d be so happy to see your bushy hair again!” He chuckled, and truth be told, he preferred the wild curls better than the subdued wavy hair.

“I’ve come to rescue you. And return the other you back into his rightful place.” Granger said, looking at the other couple next to them in the kitchen. Draco laughed when he realized that the muggle woman was now looking at the two Unspeakables with wide and curious eyes. 

“This is so strange! I still can’t believe that magic is real!” She told them, and the blond wizard shrugged with a smirk. “Well, it’s real in _our_ world. I don’t think it’s quite real in yours.” 

“Which is very unfair, in my opinion.” His muggle counterpart chimed in, as he recounted some of the magical experiences he had during his stay in a magical universe. Draco took the opportunity to observe him subtly, noticing how brighter and less tired his eyes were, compared to his, and how jovial and carefree he was overall. 

They spent only a few more moments talking among themselves before the witch beckoned the wizard to get back to their own dimension.

“We should return to our own dimension. We’ll probably have loads of paperwork to fill.” 

Draco nodded at her, and turned to look at the muggle couple, trying to consider what would be the correct measures to take, according to the Ministry, but after a minute of thought, he frowned. 

“Should we obliviate them?” He asked with clear distaste in his voice. He felt relieved when he saw Granger shaking her head, and he felt even more elated when she deviously grinned at the couple.

“I’m sure there’s another Hermione and Draco of another dimension that did, but I don’t think we should. Besides, It’s not like anyone will believe them.” She winked at the couple.

“Truth be told, I can’t even believe myself either.” The other Hermione laughed and Draco could notice how much more gleeful it sounded now that she was back in the arms of her husband. 

The muggle woman looked at him and smirked at him. “Goodbye Draco, hope you think about what we talked about.”

“Sure thing, woman.” Draco rolled his eyes with a smirk. He knew that she would never know if he plucked up the courage to ask the witch out or not, still he felt like he’d let the muggle down if he didn’t at least try.

The witch in question took him by the arm to lead them both back into the fridge ( _now turned supposed dimension-machine_ ) and the wizard was glad to notice that the way back home was much simpler and less traumatic than being thrown into a wall.

\-----

“We’ll definitely have to destroy this box.” The brunette muttered just as she was stepping into their drab and cold office back at the Department of Mysteries. “This is far too dangerous to be just lying around.”

Immediately he thought about his stay at the fascinating land, peculiar people, and with a muggle Granger that had never suffered through the horrors of war before and that was madly in love with a muggle Draco. How could he have possibly known about her, and talked to her, had it not been this metal box?

“But think of all the fun we could have!” He said in a way of teasing, but truthfully he just didn’t want to part with it just yet.

“Yeah, like a living Voldemort from another dimension invading our own and starting yet another war.” Granger deadpanned.

_Oof._

Images of that madman flashed through his mind, along the terrifying thoughts of _him_ wreaking havoc in their lives yet again. He paled, looking at the box with apprehension, as he wondered how lucky he had been to have actually landed at a peaceful dimension. 

“Okay, let’s burn this thing.”

“I’ll concede that it was fun though. Talking to you as a muggle, I mean.” Granger sighed, and Draco could only imagine what had happened between his alternate self and the woman he secretly loved. He huffed in a pang of jealousy and quickly reminded himself that he wasn’t actually in a relationship with the witch _yet_.

“I know.” He said after a second, remembering the things the muggle had told him. “It was like you were the same person, but different.” He couldn’t stop himself from peering at her covered arm, trying to picture the scar beneath it, and Granger, for her part, couldn’t stop but stare at his own covered and branded arm.

She invited him to her flat so that they could gather her notes and write the documents for the Ministry and he gladly accepted her offer.

He looked around her home and smiled at the familiar sight of a wizarding apartment brimming with magic and power. He settled himself in her comfortable couch and sighed in contentment when he saw the energetic witch easily casting her spells left and right to clean up the messy flat.

She sat by his side on the couch, both visibly comfortable with having each other back, they remained quiet for a minute, before he flashed her his usual smirk and playfully nudged her his body and his smile turned softer when she nudged him back.

Finally, he managed to gather enough courage to ask her “Would you like to grab a coffee with me someday?” at the same time as Granger nervously blurted out “So, do you have any dates for the Ministry’s Ball?”

They looked at each other with knowing smiles. Maybe after this adventure things would be different between them, and in a way, very similar to another dimension.


End file.
